The MEGA Media bias thread

[PCS]

I remember back when we used to beat up on Len on a regular basis. Distinctly recall him giving an offensive lineman very good reviews right after the season roughly 8 years ago. As soon as the Redskins signed him,he was a mediocre lineman at best. True story. I'd be willing to guess,(okay,so I actually have seen this on other teams message boards in the past),that this type of charge isn't just an ES thing.

[DeadExField]

check NFL network right now, JLC ranting on Haynesworth again... the head line is

"DANIEL SNYDER DISAPPOINTED WITH ALBERT HAYNESWORTH"

[RFKFedEx]

Journalism is entertainment and nothing more. Always has been.

I actually like the fact that we have more choices for our news than ever before. I've loved Boswell forever, but the 8 local guys who've replaced him have less potential for bias than one person IMO.

How many people here actually feel like taking the time to read an entire newspaper article these days? (online newspapers, not the actual smelly ink rags we grew up with). I still glance at the WP.com every day, but I only read a full length peice 2-3 times a week.

I know I'm usually too lazy to commit 5-10 mins to read an entire peice bc I can skim the headlines to get what I need. If the story interests me enough, I'll read it. I usually look for an alternative source like ES to get to the meat of a story. If I'm really interested, I'll get prospective from several writers, not just the WPost staffers.

[brianm23]

Ouch. That was uncalled for.

Why would you even say that? Delivering truth is the entire aim of journalism.

Compare the career of Adam Schefter with that of Jason La Canfora. Which prevails; truth or juicy gossip?

Just because those who are truly great within the field are few and far between doesn't mean that they don't exist, and the aspiration to be such certainly isn't a basis to bash someone.

Gossip will prevail more than truth. Why do you think Soap Operas exist or gossip magazines? Also, you missed the whole meaning behind LD's comment.

EDIT: Furthermore, you need to wake up from your fantasy world you are living in. Yes, journalism is "supposed" to be about truth and fact presenting but it's not. It's not what sells, and will not be what's promoted. Want fact? Do your own research on the topics at hand. That's about the only way you'll get a "unbiased" opinion on what goes on. Stories will be edited, quotes left out or misquoted, lying, false sources and much much more goes along with journalism these days. It's not just in sports reporting either, it's in corporate media alike and even filters down to local papers.

[Riggo#44]

check NFL network right now, JLC ranting on Haynesworth again... the head line is

"DANIEL SNYDER DISAPPOINTED WITH ALBERT HAYNESWORTH"

I won't go far as to say that it's a media bias...it's more like media BS. Take a look at Mosely's twist on that headline. It goes from "Snyder Disappointed..." to "Snyder Fed Up..."

[SKOALSKIN]

I had a text message exchange with 106.7 the Fails Skins beat reporter Chris Russell about this the other day. He basically told me to **** off and that I don't know what he knows. The reason for the exchange was a 10 minute rant on his weekend show about how epically stupid the Skins are for wanting to play Haynesworth at the NT. I'm at work now but I'll post the whole thing when I get home.

I caught wind of the show. This guy is the worst. He gets a weekend show on the fan and all of a sudden he's John Clayton. Russell sniffs around Redskins park, but his inside information has been absimal thus far. I love that he engaged you in a text battle.

The only guy worse then Russell is Holden Kuchner.

[Riggo#44]

I caught wind of the show. This guy is the worst. He gets a weekend show on the fan and all of a sudden he's John Clayton. Russell sniffs around Redskins park, but his inside information has been absimal thus far. I love that he engaged you in a text battle.

The only guy worse then Russell is Holden Kuchner.

I really think 106.7 goes out of it's way to be Anti-Redskins, or at least Anti-Snyder...I like the Junkies, and even they try to look for reasons to bash the Skins and Snyder.

That recent flap between Portis and Arrington was started by Russell who BROUGHT UP Lavar to Portis about regarding Taylor's locker... KNOWING it would stir up a **** strom. And then, in Arrington's response, he completely ignores the fact that Russell mention Arrington to Portis regarding an emotional subject such as Taylor.

[Merlin Emrys]

Is there media bias? Sure, and RFK is right, there always has been but the essence of "journalism" (or what journalism used to be considered as) is to reduce or mitigate that bias as much as possible, or at the very least admit to it and make clear where you stand.

I don't think it is a specific bias against the Skins entirely as much as it is a symptom of what "journalism" has become. It is now Sportsertainment!, it is geared to the short-attention span crowd, to easy sound bites and buzzwords, to casting the advertising net as wide as possible even if it degrades the end product in the process.

Yes, this is true, but you're confusing sports with real news. Sports is entertainment, not news. Therefore the traditional rules of journalism do not entirely apply.

[Coral]

Gossip will prevail more than truth. Why do you think Soap Operas exist or gossip magazines? Also, you missed the whole meaning behind LD's comment.

EDIT: Furthermore, you need to wake up from your fantasy world you are living in. Yes, journalism is "supposed" to be about truth and fact presenting but it's not. It's not what sells, and will not be what's promoted. Want fact? Do your own research on the topics at hand. That's about the only way you'll get a "unbiased" opinion on what goes on. Stories will be edited, quotes left out or misquoted, lying, false sources and much much more goes along with journalism these days. It's not just in sports reporting either, it's in corporate media alike and even filters down to local papers.

I'm not sure what's funnier... the fact that you're a hypocrite for obviously not reading my post (Per: "Also, you missed the whole meaning behind LD's comment.") or the erroneous rant that followed.

I acknowledged that there is poor journalism; even to the effect of saying that the number of poor journalists heavily outnumbers those who truly excel.

The whole basis for my "fantasy world" in your argument is void and there is one more issue I'm going to get to, but I'd like to stop for a moment and make an example out of you.

It's people like you that are the epitome of yellow journalism. You saw my post and saw that it was against the grain (whether or not it is true is up for debate; it's a subjective opinion), so you took it and put your own spin on it in form of insulting me. You evidently didn't read the entire statement, nor have you been following the exchange between the OP, LOD, TK and myself. Selective listening is a *****. You wasted my time and now you look silly.

The last thing I mentioned before that I'd like to clarify is the public interest in gossip. Yes, it's certainly there for a casual fan, but I don't think any of us fit that description here on EXTREMEskins.

Does Adam Schefter gossip? No. Do we take his reports for dogma? Pretty much.

Does Mike Florio gossip? Do we take his reports for dogma?

The point is, we're exposed to both, and quite frankly, we enjoy reading both. Further, we're able to separate fact and fiction. The Schefter reports typically end up in the breaking news section, whilst the Florio ones come here, are shortly thereafter closed and the poster is NNT'd (exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying). Surely, we're able to differentiate between these journalists.... at least I hope we are!!!!

The conversations you have with fans of other teams or the postman might involve such gossip, but I really don't think any of us take it too seriously.

In summary, there IS bad journalism and the number of bad journalists BY FAR outnumbers the good, but the amount of attention paid to the latter outweighs the effect of the former.

Just check how many followers Schefter has on twitter compared to JLC or Chris Russell (lol).

We AGREE!!! I don't understand what you see in my posts compared to what you're accusing me of overlooking.

[AzSkinsFan63]

we love our media bias it keeps us secure in our own delusions....

[LD0506]

I hope we can all agree on one thing: the offseason would be torture with ES as a platform for all of our rants.

The season cannot start soon enough....

[brianm23]

It's people like you that are the epitome of yellow journalism. You saw my post and saw that it was against the grain (whether or not it is true is up for debate; it's a subjective opinion), so you took it and put your own spin on it in form of insulting me. You evidently didn't read the entire statement, nor have you been following the exchange between the OP, LOD, TK and myself. Selective listening is a *****. You wasted my time and now you look silly.

Insulted you? Give me a ****ing break. I hate when people play the "victim" role as a means of a trumph card. Listen bro, that **** doesn't work with me so save your damsel in distress routine for a later date when you are being truly insulted by somebody.

I read the exchange, and it looks like TK and I saw the same thing. OP posted something about being a journalism major and brought truth up as a factor. Then LD comes along and makes a joke to the OP about journalism not being his future, which you emphatically respond "Ouch. That was uncalled for". It was a joke on the media, not to him or his dreams of being a journalist. Why was it uncalled for? Do you honestly think the media is truthful? I talked to this journalism student the other day about media, and she says majoring in journalism has opened her eyes to how bias media really is. She said the best paper's she's read (in terms of just reporting facts without bias) are the ones that the campus puts out which is very small time to say the least.

Selective listening? What? I'm not "listening" to anything, but I am reading this.

[brianm23]

In summary, there IS bad journalism and the number of bad journalists BY FAR outnumbers the good, but the amount of attention paid to the latter outweighs the effect of the former.

Just check how many followers Schefter has on twitter compared to JLC or Chris Russell (lol).

Really? I bet there have been more JLC/Russell threads created than Schefter. Schefter might have the following, but it's the JLC/Russell stuff that gets people talking. It's the drama. Drama sells. So I'd say the attention was paid more to the hacks out there, regardless if people take them serious or not.

JLC is probably one of the most talked about reporter on this site in the years I've been here. Not good talk, but talk never the less.

[Coral]

Insulted you? Give me a ****ing break. I hate when people play the "victim" role as a means of a trumph card.

Didn't use it as a trump card at all; I simply used it as a reason to respond to your nonsense. All I have to do is quote you for a trump card. You're doing a fine job digging yourself into incoherent holes.

I read the exchange, and it looks like TK and I saw the same thing. OP posted something about being a journalism major and brought truth up as a factor. Then LD comes along and makes a joke to the OP about journalism not being his future, which you emphatically respond "Ouch. That was uncalled for". It was a joke on the media, not to him or his dreams of being a journalist. Why was it uncalled for? Do you honestly think the media is truthful?

I'm not even going to answer this. I have several times already.

I talked to this journalism student the other day

You're 37. Amber alert.

Selective listening? What? I'm not "listening" to anything, but I am reading this.

It's an expression, albeit one too complicated for you, obviously.

[brianm23]

You're 37. Amber alert.

Now this is a insult. So you are insinuating that since I'm 37 and talked to a journalism student that I'm now a kid napper or a threat to underage kids?

Nothing left in the arsenal so start slinging mud eh? At this point you are just trolling.

[LD0506]

Well damn, this is like a hockey game, I went to a conversation and a fight broke out.

This really isn't an argument, it isn't even a debate, it is a somewhat random conversation that we use to help us Skins fans jonesin' for the season to start to get by.

I didn't take anything Coral said as an affront, and I was the one he directed his remarks to. I envy him his innocence of youth, untouched by the ravages of cynicism or the alimony he had to pay his starter wife. I can respect his idealistic view of the media, I just cannot share it. No fault, no foul, no reason to load the shotgun.

Like any worthwhile conversation, there is no absolute right or wrong, and the meat in the bun is all subjective opinion. The rancor in the ranks is somewhat misplaced.

(The preceding editorial does not represent the views of this station or its sponsors)

[Coral]

Well damn, this is like a hockey game, I went to a conversation and a fight broke out.

This really isn't an argument, it isn't even a debate, it is a somewhat random conversation that we use to help us Skins fans jonesin' for the season to start to get by.

I didn't take anything Coral said as an affront, and I was the one he directed his remarks to. I envy him his innocence of youth, untouched by the ravages of cynicism or the alimony he had to pay his starter wife. I can respect his idealistic view of the media, I just cannot share it. No fault, no foul, no reason to load the shotgun.

Like any worthwhile conversation, there is no absolute right or wrong, and the meat in the bun is all subjective opinion. The rancor in the ranks is somewhat misplaced.

(The preceding editorial does not represent the views of this station or its sponsors)

And I too respect your opinion... here here!

Although I'm still bitter that your wife is STILL cleaning me out for that child support

[darrelgreenie]

Several instances of late involve national writers having made claims without quotes from the individuals involved. As a former collegiate journalism major this bothers me, I was certainly taught to respect the truth and to uncover it, not make it up.

We're not the only ones tired of JLC passing off his own speculation as reporting citing unknown 'sources':

Mayock calls him out @ 2:07:

feZm-AK4HrE

[RFKFedEx]

JLC got a huge promotion when w/ the NFLN signed him last year.

If he were lousy at his job, I doubt he would have seen a bump in pay at a time when many journalists are getting laid off.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Coral, that hole is getting deeper. I'd stop digging if I were you.

As for the media bias against the Redskins, the media uses templates to shape their stories for the most part, and the current template for the Redskins is "Snyder is greedy and meddling/Haynesworth is disgruntled and just another in a long line of high priced FA signings that failed in Washington." Every story and blog entry must have the facts fit into that template as much as possible. It's the paint-by-numbers approach to journalism.

And journalist make it worse by parroting each other's rumors and speculation as if it's proven fact merely BECAUSE another journalist or media anaylst wrote about it or reported it. So you get guys at press conferences saying things like "Jason La Canfora reported that Albert Haynesworth feels "decieved" by the Redskins. Do you agree Haynesworth has a right to feel deceived, Bruce Allen?"...The idea that maybe--just maybe--Jason La Canfora was wrong never enters the equation. He reported it, so it's taken as etched-in-stone truth and allows every other journalist to run with it as such. So one reporter's speculation from a "source familiar with the situation" gets repeated as fact by dozens of other journalists in dozens of other stories, blogs and press conferences.

What's the saying? "If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth"...well, if you repeat a rumor or speculation often enough and in different media outlets it becomes the truth.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

JLC got a huge promotion when w/ the NFLN signed him last year.

If he were lousy at his job, I doubt he would have seen a bump in pay at a time when many journalists are getting laid off.

Depends. What do they want from him: good journalism or good ratings and lots of blog hits?

There's a reason the National Inquirer never lays off anyone, aferall lol .

[RFKFedEx]

There's a reason the National Inquirer never lays off anyone, aferall lol .

I wouldn't be surprised if their staff has been pinched by all of the other gossip outlets like E Network, TV Guide tv, etc.

But how often is the National Inquirer proven wrong?

I'm not talking about the Weekly World News. Surely you remember that b&w newspaper at the supermarket check stand that was always writing about Elvis sightings. It was right there next to the Inquirer and other tabloids. Sadly it went out of print last year.:mad:

I'm talking about the National Inquirer, specifically in comparison to JLC.

Believe it or not, the NI has an amazing record of accuracy. The gossip they report is often confirmed by mainstream media outlets later on.

Same for JLC at the NFLN, and before when he was at the WP.

[LD0506]

Califan makes an excellent point, and why do they act that way? Because it's easy, because they don't have to go traipsing around, talking to people that know wtf they are talking about to write a non-flashy story that gets buried behind "OMG, Tony Romo sits to pee didn't go golfing!!!" leads.

Congrats to Mayock for speaking the truth there, even if it isn't "shiny", it's lazy to just cite "unknown sources" (real or imagined) to float tripe that is barely blog worthy.

And Coral, I went to HomeDepot and bought a ladder with your $$, bring it back when you're done

[LD0506]

I wouldn't be surprised if their staff has been pinched by all of the other gossip outlets like E Network, TV Guide tv, etc.

But how often is the National Enquirer proven wrong?

I'm not talking about the Weekly World News. Surely you remember that b&w newspaper at the supermarket check stand that was always writing about Elvis sightings. It was right there next to the Inquirer and other tabloids. Sadly it went out of print last year.:mad:

I'm talking about the National Enquirer specifically in comparison to JLC.

Believe it or not, the NE has an amazing record of accuracy. The gossip they report is often confirmed by mainstream media outlets later on.

Same for JLC at the NFLN, and before when he was at the WP.

K: "Best investigative reporting on the planet. But go ahead, read the New York Times if you want. They get lucky sometimes."

[Coral]

Califan makes an excellent point, and why do they act that way? Because it's easy, because they don't have to go traipsing around, talking to people that know wtf they are talking about to write a non-flashy story that gets buried behind "OMG, Tony Romo sits to pee didn't go golfing!!!" leads.

Congrats to Mayock for speaking the truth there, even if it isn't "shiny", it's lazy to just cite "unknown sources" (real or imagined) to float tripe that is barely blog worthy.

And Coral, I went to HomeDepot and bought a ladder with your $$, bring it back when you're done

Either I don't get the joke or you don't.... but ok

Let me try to rephrase what I've been saying all along in a more "civil manner".

It's a shame that the E in ESPN stands for entertainment, because that's all it is... It really is difficult to find objective, bare truth sports reporting... It's out there, but I'd rather it be handed to me instead of all the garbage that is instead.

If I want gossip, I'll watch TMZ or go check out Perez Hilton. I want sports.

PS--Califan

Why do you suggest I stop digging? To which hole are you referring? I'm lost.